Afghanistan’s nickname is “the graveyard of empires,” and for good reason.

The country has been loosely held together by a central government that largely lacks power, and has been carved up by numerous local tribal leaders and warlords. The country’s now-former president Hamid Karzai was notoriously corrupt — he’s been recently busted for taking bagfuls of money from the American military, among other things. Afghanistan is also home to an enormous amount of the world’s heroin production, which has brought lots of wealth to a lucky few.